2013 was a rewarding year for IPG Mediabrands: Shashi Sinha

Shashi Sinha, CEO of media services conglomerate IPG Mediabrands, was awarded the Media Agency Head of the Year. He was also president of the Advertising Club until mid-2013 and is currently head of the all-important Technical Committee of BARC, a joint industry body appointed to govern television audience measurement in the country

How is this award different from what the other award platforms have to offer?
This award is a combination of marketing, media and advertising and I do not know of any other platform that does this. It's more of the individual and his organisation that gets rewarded here. So it's a good feeling to be picking up the Media Agency Head of the Year award.

Last year was a formative one for IPG Mediabrands where all agencies were clubbed under one umbrella. How did the year turn out to be for you?
As you know, 2013 was a year of churn for the company. I got at the helm of IPG Mediabrands in end of 2012 so it's been just a year for me. I am lucky to be having a team who are all from within the network. Also, I have been actively been a part of industry bodies like Ad Club and BARC, which may have worked in my favour this year.

In terms of growth, is the industry clocking at a healthy rate as predicted?
Last year was a tough year for the industry. The growth was not as high as a few had predicted. Our estimate was around 9% growth for 2013. We were slightly more conservative compared with the others in releasing our numbers but we were on track with our predictions.

Business-wise, you picked up some good clients...
As for the agency, 2013 was a very good year for us as we also picked up a few good businesses especially at the end of the year. If at all there was a year for us, 2013 would be apt to be winning a big award. The year saw us putting all our companies together; we also bought agencies like Interactive Avenues. So it was a testing yet rewarding year for IPG Mediabrands.

You are the chairman of BARC Technical Committee. When do you see the measurement hurdle being resolved in the country?
A robust rating mechanism is what we are aiming at. Our sense is that the basic contours are right. It is just a matter of time before it all comes together and we have a robust measurement system in place. – MxMIndia.com